David Greenburg is 11 years old and about to start middle school. He’s not too worried until his older cousin Jack tells him about the horrors he may face, including a toilet-bowl swirlie on his birthday. David has other worries on his mind too: his mom left the family to live on a farm in Maine that has no electricity or phone service, his best friend Elliott no longer speaks to him, and his older sister Lindsay is hostile a lot of the time. The only good thing he has going is his grandmother, Bubbe, the TalkTime videos he records and posts on YouTube, and his pet hamster.

Things start to look up when he meets Sophie on his first day of school. Sophie is just starting public school after being taught at home by her mom, and she loves David’s videos. When she spreads the word about TalkTime through her homeschool network, David’s videos suddenly become way more popular than he is, leading to consequences both good and bad.

How to Survive Middle School by Donna Gephart is a funny and poignant look at a trying time of life for most adolescents. The comforts of elementary school are gone, some kids are maturing way faster than others, teachers are stricter, and new friendships are forming while old ones may be falling away. Bullies may be more of a problem. Gephart does a great job of showing how conflicted David feels about so much going on around him.

Mother-daughter book clubs with girls aged 9 to 12 will find a lot to talk about here—friendships, family relationships, relating to parents after divorce, pets, YouTube, and both the rewards and pitfalls of growing up. You may also want to serve Bubbe’s Jewish Apple Cake (recipe included at the back of the book) when you get together to talk about this book.

I laughed a lot and cried a little while reading How to Survive Middle School, and I highly recommend it. You may also want to check out the YouTube video of HammyTime.

There’s a lot to like in Donna Gephart’s first book, as if being 12-3/4 isn’t bad enough, my mother is running for president. Vanessa Rothrock is nearly 13 and already used to the limelight because she’s the Florida governor’s daughter. But when her mother decides to run for president, and it looks like she stands a good chance of winning, Vanessa’s life intensifies. Gephart gives us a good glimpse into the family life of a presidential candidate—hint: there’s not much family time—while also capturing pre-teen angst quite well.

Vanessa’s concerns will have moms remembering their own middle school years while being reminded of what their daughters of the same age may be going through. Girls will be able to identify with many of the same issues Vanessa experiences, and maybe learn a few things from her mistakes.

I found it a good reminder of how kids can be so ego-centric in middle school. Everything is seen through the lens of “what does it mean to me.” For Vanessa, it doesn’t matter that her mom will make history by becoming the first female president of our country if she’s not home to watch her daughter compete in the regional spelling bee.

It’s also a good reminder that kids often don’t tell their parents about important things that are worrying them. Instead they try to solve them on their own. When Vanessa receives letters threatening to kill her mom if she doesn’t drop out of the race, she thinks it’s better to secretly try to get her mom to drop out instead of telling someone with the ability to help.

This is also a very interesting book to read in an election year when a woman came close to being nominated as a major-political-party presidential candidate. And I loved the reasons Vanessa’s mom wrote to her telling why she wants to be president. The list could spark a whole separate conversation with members of a mother-daughter book club about things that are important for our country.

I recommend this book for readers aged 9 to 12.